Mining Beacon special report: Oman mining on the rise

JSW Group chairman Sajjan Jindal can see a significant part of the vision Oman’s leaders have for the oil-rich sultanate.

“This strategic investment will lay the foundation for deeper trade connectivity and economic cooperation,” he said when JSW Infrastructure got the nod to build and operate a greenfield US$419 million bulk materials port facility at Al Shuwaymiyah in Oman’s Dhofar governorate.

One of India’s major steel, energy and infrastructure conglomerates, JSW sees the Middle East country as a “natural hub for mineral exports” in the region and the port, expected to be operational in 2029, as a key connector of Oman’s geological wealth and India’s burgeoning national infrastructure build.

“With abundant reserves of limestone, gypsum and dolomite —critical inputs for India’s steel and cement industries—the country offers immense export potential,” JSW said on the back of the deal to deliver Al Shuwaymiyah with state-backed Minerals Development Oman (MDO), whose CEO Mattar Al Badi said the proposed 27 million tonnes per annum port would become “a landmark infrastructure addition to Oman’s southern coast [and] a new maritime gateway to the sultanate of Oman”.

“It also aligns seamlessly with Oman’s Vision 2040, which prioritises economic diversification by transitioning from a hydrocarbon-centric economy to diversified, non-oil growth and the development of world–class infrastructure,” JSW’s Jindal said.

Momentum behind that expansive economic vision continues to build with Al Shuwaymiyah flanked by a slew of copper, chromite, salt, gypsum, silica and other important infrastructure developments.

Oman’s National Centre for Statistics and Information says about US$17.4 billion of 2025 non-oil exports was up 7.5% on the previous year, amid total exports of some $105 billion. Chemicals, metals and machinery led outbound non-oil trade.

The sultanate’s mining industry is a strategic pillar of Vision 2040, which aims to lift the sector’s GDP contribution from 1.4% in 2020 to 10% by 2040.

Like neighbour Saudi Arabia, Oman’s minerals vision is about more than moving rocks and shipping ores offshore. Al Badi said in a late 2025 interview the national mining champion’s mission was to unlock the sector’s full potential.

“We’re helping to shape Oman’s mining ecosystem, shifting from a legacy of quarrying to more complex, value-added operations”

“Oman has a real opportunity to position itself as a key player in the global critical minerals landscape,” he said.

“To stay competitive Oman must act early by investing in opportunities and securing access to advanced extraction and processing technologies. If we delay there’s a risk of being limited to the role of consumer in a rapidly evolving global supply chain.

“Our goal is to be a proactive investor, technology adopter and long-term partner in the development of critical mineral value chains.

“We’re helping to shape Oman’s mining ecosystem, shifting from a legacy of quarrying to more complex, value-added operations in copper, chromite, gold and industrial minerals. We’re also working closely with academic institutions to build specialised programs and equip local talent with the skills needed for the future of mining in Oman.

“Flagship projects such as the Mazoon copper project and the Ash Shuwaymiyyah industrial minerals project serve as national milestones, setting a new standard for integrated, ESG-driven resource development.

“We align our projects with Vision 2040’s priorities by clustering opportunities, fostering innovation and attracting strategic partners to co-develop sustainable and globally competitive ventures.”

Oman is expanding chromite exports through the northern Port of Sohar.

The $450 million Mazoon project could be producing circa-115,000 tonnes per annum of copper concentrate from next year. About 200km west of Muscat near Yanqul in the northern part of Oman, Mazoon’s 2.5 million tonnes per annum plant will source ore from up to five openpit mines.

Al Badi said the project’s delivery marked “a pivotal moment for Oman’s mining sector”.

“While it may not be large by global standards it signals our serious entry into copper production and export. It enhances Oman’s credibility as a reliable mineral supplier and builds confidence among investors and financiers, laying the foundation for larger-scale developments.

“What sets the project apart is our commitment to doing it right from the start. We’re embedding ESG principles at the core of the project, including the use of high-efficiency technologies to minimise water consumption and maximise metal recovery, even if it comes at a higher cost. For us, long-term quality and sustainability take precedence over short-term gains.”

As well as copper, titanium minerals, silica sand and high-purity limestone and gypsum, MDO is said to be sizing up its first rare earth elements deposit – a “major milestone for Oman’s entry into the critical minerals space” – and advancing work on a magnesium metal production facility. “In five years we see MDO as a fully integrated mining investment company with a robust project portfolio, a presence across multiple segments of the value chain and a strong contribution to Oman’s economic transformation,” Al Badi said.

The rocks

Oman’s much chronicled hydrocarbon geology is headlined by the Semail Ophiolite, “the biggest and best-exposed and most-studied obducted slice of ocean crust and mantle exposed on the continent anywhere in the world”, according to Oxford earth sciences senior research fellow Mike Searle. One of the world’s most significant and best-preserved ophiolite sequences hosts 380 producing oil fields, about 4.9 billion barrels of crude and condensate reserves and 24 trillion cubic feet of natural gas reserves, according to the country’s Ministry of Energy and Minerals.

It has also famously hosted copper mining said to go back to the Bronze Age. Magan, or Makkan – the “land of copper” – signified ancient Oman’s importance as a Mesopotamian trade ally.

The country’s 700km-long Al Hajar mountain range largely defined by the Semail Ophiolite has some of the oldest rocks in the Arabian Peninsula and a long history of copper and chromite mining.

London AIM-listed project incubator Power Metal Resources, which lists Rick Rule as a significant investor, says its focus on parts of the world “offering district-scale potential” in base and precious metals, and energy, as well as low jurisdiction risk, has so far led it into North America, Australia and Africa. It also wants subsidiary Power Arabia, building a presence on the ground in Saudi Arabia and Oman, to be “one of the dominant exploration leaders in the region”.

“Oman’s ophiolite-rich mountains are believed to host a wide range of metals, including chromite, cobalt, copper and nickel. The country was also the first in the Gulf to produce and export ferrochrome,” says a research associate at the US-based Arab Gulf States Institute, Said Bakr.

“In 2023, the Ministry of Energy and Minerals signed an agreement with United Kingdom-based Knights Bay to extract nickel, Oman’s first mining agreement with a foreign investor.

“More recently, the Ministry of Energy and Minerals signed three mining exploration agreements valued at $500 million and signed a memorandum of understanding with Turkey’s Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources to enhance cooperation on critical mineral exploration.”

The recipient of Oman’s first foreign mining licence, Australian Securities Exchange-listed Alara Resources, says Oman’s geology “offers some of the world’s most exciting copper and gold prospects”. The junior’s 51%-owned flagship asset, Al Wash-hi Majaza, about 160km south-west of Muscat, has been producing copper since late 2024 and the company launched its first big airborne geophysical survey on the Semail Ophiolite belt formation in the middle of this year.

A 1448sq.km exploration concession containing Al Wash-hi Majaza is being surveyed by leading airborne geophysics mapping group, Xcalibur Smart Mapping.

“The commencement of the airborne geophysical survey over Concession 22B represents an important step in advancing our exploration activities in Oman,” says Alara managing director Atmavireshwar Sthapak, a former Rio Tinto geologist who was appointed to lead Alara’s exploration team in Oman in 2011 and moved into his current role in 2020.

“The integration of magnetic and electromagnetic datasets is expected to significantly enhance our understanding of the concession’s geological architecture and assist in identifying priority targets for follow-up exploration.

“We believe this survey has significant potential to unlock additional value across the concession area, which includes the Al Wash-hi Majaza copper-gold mine, the Mullaq prospect and numerous historical mining workings. The program represents an important step in advancing our understanding of the region’s mineral potential and supports Alara's long-term strategy of building a robust pipeline of exploration and development assets in Oman.”

Alara Resources’ first large-scale airborne geophysical survey around the Al Wash-hi Majaza copper-gold mine could “unlock additional value across the concession area”.

Alara, which has shipped more than 11,000 tonnes of copper metal from Al Wash-hi Majaza, has exploration access rights to more than 2500sq.km under four exploration licences and a mineral concession in Oman. The company also has a drilling and mining services arm active in the sultanate, expanding its in-country workforce to more than 200 people.

“As government reforms continue to stimulate Oman’s mining sector Alara is well positioned to capture this wave of exploration-led growth,” Sthapak says.

Inflection point

Oman minister of energy and minerals Salim Al Aufi, a petroleum engineer appointed to head the ministry in 2022, characterised 2025 as a meaningful inflection point for the minerals sector, with the signing of a number of mining and exploration concession agreements marking a qualitative shift in its development as a key pillar of the country’s economic diversification.

Last year’s competitive bidding on 8750 square kilometres of concession blocks in the Al Buraimi, North Al Sharqiyah, South Al Batinah and Al Wusta governorates, which brought the government’s new Taqa e-services portal into play, will bring new investment in copper, gold, silver, chromite, silica, salt, kaolin and other industrial mineral exploration to the table, according to Al Aufi.

Dr Salah Al Dhahab, director general of investments at the Ministry of Energy and Minerals (MEM), said the areas were characterised by their geographical diversity and the strategic minerals they contained. He said ongoing efforts to open up exploration and mining concession areas – with at least 23 mining concession areas currently being developed by local and international companies – were central to the sultanate’s strategy to expand investment and the transfer of knowledge and skills into the nascent mining sector.

“Cooperation between local and international companies is a fundamental pillar of this strategy, with local companies participating in vital projects alongside the direct investment value provided by international companies in the sector,” Al Dhahab said.

“This contributes to the transfer of expertise and modern technologies to the local market and opens up new horizons for the national workforce.

“The strategy focuses on maximising added value by encouraging mineral-related processing and manufacturing industries, rather than simply exporting raw materials, as this step contributes to creating new job opportunities and enhances the sector’s contribution to GDP.

“It also consolidates Oman's position as a leading regional centre for mining industries and reflects the ministry's professional commitment to developing the mining sector, confirming that it is no longer an emerging sector but has become a fundamental pillar in the sultanate of Oman's future economic diversification roadmap.”

Looking ahead, Al Aufi said Oman would accelerate exploration for strategic minerals, strengthen domestic mineral processing industries, reduce exports of raw materials and expand the role of Oman Minerals Trading Company in marketing Omani mineral products internationally.

Established last year as a unit of MDO, Oman Minerals Trading Company this month announced its first “integrated” shipment of domestic chromite, combining several grades of ore in a single cargo of more than 50,000t, through the Port of Sohar in the country’s north-east. Management described the shipment as a “new step in the marketing and export of Oman chromite to international markets”, aimed at expanding its global customer base.

The trading business is also charged with exporting Oman’s gypsum.

As well as chromite, gypsum and copper, the sultanate is expanding international sales of its dolomite and salt, the latter on the back of significant new investment in the circa-$1.1 billion domestic sector.

More than $1 billion of investment is earmarked for marine salt projects and related processing ventures that could increase current production more than 100-fold. Most of the industrial and food grade salt would be exported.

MEM director general of minerals Saud Al Mahrouqi says Oman’s salt sector has entered a new phase driven by specialised industrial projects, with a clear focus on expanding salt-based downstream industries.

“Oman possesses a number of advantages that strengthen the competitiveness of its salt industry, including extensive coastal areas, strong evaporation rates and easy access to regional and global markets,” he says.

The new projects would create opportunities for small and medium-sized enterprises in support services, transportation, logistics and supplies, he said. They would also produce quality employment opportunities in engineering, geology, operations management, maintenance, quality assurance and safety, increasing the participation of Omani talent across the mining value chain.

Al Mahrouqi says the salt industry stands as an example of how a traditional sector can be transformed through a modern vision.

“This facility positions Oman as a regional hub for green transformation in the mining sector”

Similarly emblematic of a new era of mineral and metal production in the sultanate was last year’s launch by local group Green Tech Mining and Services of a hydrometallurgical mining waste recycling and refining pilot facility near Sohar. The $107 million plant is a precursor to a planned full-scale commercial facility producing 12,000tpa or more of copper cathodes.

Established under a joint venture between Austria's BPG Group (51%) and MDO unit, Oman Mining Company, the Arjaa tailings processing plant is said to use solar energy for about 60% of its power, plus a “nature-based wastewater treatment system”. Green Tech Mining managing director Imran Shaikh said at the plant inauguration the company, which had an initial offtake agreement with US commodity trader Traxys and strong interest from other potential buyers, was managing circa-18Mt of copper tailings.

Green Tech Mining and Services’ hydrometallurgical mining waste recycling and refining plant near Sohar is producing copper cathode.

It would aim to sustain a c12,000tpa green copper cathode production level up to 2030 while developing new tailings streams that could allow it to expand output by 30% next decade.

“The use of renewable energy and the plant’s zero‑waste approach underlines our dedication to the responsible industry,” BPG Group CEO Ernst Grissemann says.

“This facility positions Oman as a regional hub for green transformation in the mining sector.”

With MDO’s 2024 restart of domestic copper exports from Lasail in the Al Batinah North governorate, after a 30-year hiatus in shipments, plus the developments at Mazoon Al Wash-hi Majaza, Arjaa and elsewhere, Oman is seeing an opportunity to make the red metal a bigger part of its future plans as prices continue to surge.

“Under Vision 2040, copper is a strategic priority,” says Deloitte general partner and Middle East energy and resources expert, Christopher Armitage.

“Oman is targeting buyers looking for diversified, secure copper sources, especially as major markets push for supply chain resilience and lower-carbon sourcing.”

Armitage says tailings reclamation at scale emphasises a leaner, export-focused strategy backed by better technology – a marked shift from historical models.